Meditative Concentration and Contemplative Practice

If one's meditative concentration is sufficient and one's knowledge and views are also sufficient, one should combine them with seated meditation in stillness to strengthen meditative concentration, and then engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the Buddha's teachings, contemplating the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Afterwards, one should investigate Chan, always keeping a questioning doubt of investigation in mind. First eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), then investigate Chan to see the mind.

The purpose of studying the Dharma is precisely to engage in contemplative practice and then attain realization. If one cannot engage in contemplative practice, it shows that one's power of deliberation is not good enough—that is, one's meditative concentration is not good enough. Meditative concentration without contemplative cultivation cannot play much of a role in realizing the Dharma. Therefore, one should know how to cultivate concentration, so that meditative concentration can serve its proper function.